[MUD-Dev] Continuous versus Discrete Functions

[John Buehler]

Caliban Tiresias Darklock writes:
> From: "John Buehler" <johnbue at email.msn.com>

>> My point in this is that the creation of entertainment which does
>> not focus on competition is perfectly viable and will not retain
>> the problems of competition-based entertainment.

> There already is a great deal of entertainment that doesn't focus
> on competition. As a genre, we call it "single player". Basically,
> you're asking for something effectively impossible: a multiplayer
> game without competition.

Note my use of the phrase 'focus on competition'.  I'm not asking
for an elimination of competition from multiplayer games at all.
I'm asking for a greater presence of cooperative gameplay.
Cooperation is born of need, and there's rarely any need to
cooperate in current games.  Paul Schwanz had some interesting ideas
a while back on how to encourage players to think in terms of the
group's well-being instead of only their own.

>> I agree with this, in general.  It's simply a question of how
>> much competition serves as the basis of entertainment for the
>> service.

> This is not in your hands. The *players* determine what is and is
> not entertainment on your service. You have absolutely no
> authority over that.

We can insist back and forth on this all day.

>> I disagree here.  I think that behaviors are made desireable by
>> making them entertaining.

> Not in a multiplayer environment. My entertainment only matters
> when I'm by myself. Once I'm in the presence of others, it's my
> status in the group that matters -- because even if *I* don't care
> about that status, other people do. And if I didn't want to
> interact with other people, I wouldn't be playing a multiplayer
> game.

What I see you saying is that interaction = competition.  My
fundamental point is that interaction = competition + cooperation.

JB

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